Bob Young, the chief executive of Fleet Mortgages has announced he will retire in April.

Young and his management team launched the Fleet Mortgages, a buy-to-let specialist, in 2014. 

He will be replaced by Mike Lane, currently Fleet’s chief operating officer. Lane has been with Fleet since 2014 and was part of the senior management team at their previous lender.  He has over 30 years’ experience in both retail and financial companies.

Fleet has expanded rapidly since launch, and at the end of December 2021 had over £2bn in mortgages under management. 

Last year  it was acquired by Starling Bank in a £50m cash and share deal. As a result of this Starling became the sole funder of Fleet’s originations, with the lender writing over £782m of mortgage business – a 96% year-on-year increase.

In his 45-year career Young has held roles with Black Horse, Abbey National, before joining CHL Mortgages as sales & marketing director in 1997, taking over as managing director in 2004. 

Fleet Mortgages offers buy-to-let mortgages exclusively through the intermediary channel with products available in three core areas – for individuals, limited companies/LLPs and those seeking to finance HMO and multi-unit blocks.

Young says: “This seems the right time to announce my retirement and to hand over to Mike and the management team to build on what we’ve all achieved over the last seven or so years.

“It will undoubtedly be business as usual at Fleet under Mike’s leadership. With the support of Starling behind us, the future looks incredibly bright.

“Given our acquisition by Starling last year, it feels like Fleet is embarking on its next phase. Phase one of developing Fleet was all about getting a new lender off the ground, establishing our credibility and building a business which could be trusted by our intermediary partners and their clients.”